The Minister of Transportation, Diego Giuliano, assured this Friday that in the meeting held by the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, with the President of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, they agreed on “a cooperation methodology” for transit through the Paraná-Hidrovia. Paraguay, and at no time was it decided to “lift the collection of tolls.”
Through his Twitter account, the national official responded to the statements made this morning by the Paraguayan president, regarding the fact that there had been a commitment to stop collecting the toll.
“President @SantiPeña: we have no problem advancing in the discussion of the Waterway rates, according to the services and works carried out by our country as agreed, but we must also advance to pay the Yacyretá debt that Argentina claims 30 years ago. years”, wrote Giuliano this afternoon on the social network.
And he added: “We want to make something super clear, due to the general situation, we cannot allow Argentine citizens to continue paying with their taxes for the works necessary for the navigation of barges or ships from other countries. After 15 years, that toll is collected from internationals again because they are the ones who use part of the sovereign tranche.”
President Peña had declared to his country’s media that he understood “that there was a commitment… Apparently there was no such commitment; each country obviously knows what restrictions it has”. He pointed out that “Paraguay understands that the international treaty signed on the Waterway establishes that tolls cannot be created unilaterally” and said that “they are different moments” that are lived in both countries. “In the case of Paraguay, it is very clear: when we say something, it is what comes true,” he said.
“So we understood that the collection was going to stop and the five countries were going to sit down and, eventually, if the five countries agree, then we have to collect,” he added. Peña maintained in this sense that the Government is not opposed to a toll, but that “it must be agreed upon.”
